The 2026-27 Devils season is off to a rough start. They are 2-3 and look like one of the worst teams in the NHL. They keep giving up the first goal of the game. They lack offensive support, and worst of all, they are undisciplined. Their latest game against the Senators showed this in a 4-1 loss.
The Devils took 5 penalties on Monday night, and while their penalty kill gave up only one power-play goal to Stephen Halliday, it felt demoralizing.
The Devils had 13 penalty minutes, and 5 of those came from a major by Anthony Mantha, who boarded Nikolas Matinpalo, who left the game injured. Mantha has not had the start he wanted in his Devils tenure. Granted, the Devils killed the penalty, which should’ve been a huge momentum shift, but it led to nothing.
It got worse when Amadeus Lombardi took a slashing penalty early in the second period, which led to the Stephen Halliday power-play goal.
Luke Hughes and Luke Evangelista also took interference and hooking penalties. Brendan Dillion leads the team with 11 penalty minutes so far, and because of that 5-minute major, Anthony Mantha isn’t far behind with seven. If Lombardi isn’t more disciplined, he may be next, since he had six minutes. Even if the team has a discipline problem, the biggest issue right now is scoring. Through five games, the Devils have scored only 11 goals, which is unacceptable for a team with this kind of talent. Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt each have only four points so far, and Nico Hischier has only three.
This year feels way too familiar for the New Jersey Devils
Timo Meier has been a liability so far with one point, and Dawson Mercer has none. It’s incredibly frustrating that Meier and Dawson Mercer have been on this team together for almost 2 1/2 years, and both their production has fallen off. The pressure is there, but without secondary scoring and finishing, the team has the competitive edge but can’t seem to get it done when they need to. Even the defense has been having a problem; they can’t seem to cover the middle of the ice against any opponent skates to create a chance, which leaves guys wide open for chances. Goaltending was an issue after that 6-0 loss to the Islanders on October 3rd, but it wasn’t an issue in this game.
It feels like every year we see the same team: no defense, no scoring, and no goaltending help. Most of the roster is still filled with players Tom Fitzgerald signed, so there’s no reason to be angry at Sunny because he doesn’t have his kind of roster yet. Sheldon Keefe is in the hot seat to start the season because, while the players need to perform better, it also seems Keefe’s inability to motivate the team to win and play better is costing them games.
If the losing continues into late November and early December, we could see Keefe fired as the Devils look to find another coach to save their season. While it may be crazy to say this after only five games, the frustration is valid because the team had high expectations coming into the season, and they need to fix everything fast.
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